Board of Trustees

Arahoe Board of Trustees

"A school board must perform its functions and exercise its power in such a way as to ensure that every student at the school is able to attain his or her highest possible standard in educational achievement." (Education Act 1989, S.75)

Every state and state-integrated school in New Zealand has a board of trustees. Boards bring families, communities and schools together to work towards a quality education for our children.

The role of the school board of trustees is the governance and control of the management of the school. The board is the employer of all staff in the school and appoints a principal to provide the day to day management of the school. The Principal is required to comply with the board’s general policy directions but has discretion to manage the school on a day to day basis. The board focuses on the vision and policies for the school and is ultimately accountable for the school’s performance and compliance with legal requirements.

For more information about our current Board members, Board newsletter, Board meetings and how to contact the Board please see below.

Board Newsletters

.

.

Board Members

Russell Matthews (Chair)

Tena Koutou, having 3 children my association with the school began in 2005 and will continue through to 2017. I am a first time board member and I look forward to working hard within a committed board to ensure our pupils and staff are given every opportunity to succeed.

Melanie Sorby

I started my journey at Arahoe as a parent of a new entrant in 2010. That new entrant is now a successful 12 year old attending Blockhouse Bay intermediate. I have two other children who are both still currently attending Arahoe, one in year three and one in year six. Having already served a three year term as an Arahoe Board member I have been fortunate enough to be part of the team that has seen through some major changes at Arahoe including the building of our new ILE. I look forward to continuing to being part of a team that brings success for all our students.

Shaun Bennett

I have lived in Green Bay with my wife Miranda for around 12 years. I have two boys at Arahoe aged 5 and 8. I really enjoy living in our community and being part of the Arahoe School family. I want to help maintain a strong school community feeling and focus at Arahoe. I want our children to have an engaging, enjoyable and safe school environment, and receive a strong start to their education.

Helen Farrington

I have two children at Arahoe, one in year 4 and one in year 5. I am a teacher at Rainbow Cottage Kindergarten in New Lynn and have recently graduated with a Diploma in Education (ECE). I have been a member of the Arahoe Community Group for 5 years and chairperson for the last 3 years. I have been on the BOT for almost two and a half years and have found the experience both challenging and extremely rewarding. I enjoy being involved in the school community through both the Board and th ACG, and it has been a privilege to be part of the growth and development of our school. I am passionate about strengthening relationships between the Board, the ACG and the wider school community.

Calum MacLean

My wife Vanessa and I moved to New Lynn over 10 years ago and our three boys have attended Arahoe School. Our older two have now moved on to high school and intermediate and our youngest is in Year 4. I have enjoyed my involvement with the school and have seen the school manage substantial growth over the past decade very successfully and continue to develop and create new opportunities for our community's children. We are lucky to be part of a school community that has embraced change and has strong vision for the future.

Glenn Stone

Hi my name is Glenn Stone and I live in New Lynn with my wife Sue and our young family Fleur, Hunter and Lucy. Fleur is in Year 3 with Mrs Jansz, Hunter is in Year 1 with Miss Gracias and Miss Walford and Lucy starts later in 2017. Because of this you could say I have vested interest in helping Arahoe continue to perform at the high standard it already does. We are a family of keen sports people, we love the outdoors, camping and just getting out and about and enjoying all the awesome outdoor activities we have in West Auckland. Sue and I also own an insurance brokerage based in New Lynn and I am hopeful that my skill set and connections will come in useful to the team at Arahoe.

Corin Armstead (Staff Trustee)

I have been teaching at Arahoe School for 18 years. I have predominantly taught in the junior area of the school, however, for the last 4 years I have been teaching ESOL and International Students. This year I have also taken on coordinating the Asian Language Learning programmes available at our school. I have 2 children who have completed their years at Arahoe and have now moved onto Intermediate and High School.

Richard Limbrick (Principal)

What do the Board of Trustees do?

The school board has the overall responsibility for the governance of the school, including meeting certain legal obligations, responsibility for property, personnel, financial management, reporting to the Ministry and school community, and meeting national requirements set by the Ministry of Education.

The board sets direction through the school charterthat the Principal and staff then put in place. It must also monitor and report annually on its progress towards these goals.

Board of Trustees Meetings

The Board meets once a month from February through to December. Meetings are open to the public however they are not public meetings where everyone has the right to speak. Speaking rights can be granted in advance by the Board Chair. Sometimes parts of the meeting are closed to the public when the board is discussing confidential matters.

In a typical board meeting you may see

Setting of educational goals and strategic direction.

Reviewing and occasionally rewriting of policies.

Monitoring of how the school is progressing against its annual targets and how well students are achieving.

Decisions on how the school's funding will be spent.

Formulation and overseeing of the five year property plan.

How or why you might contact the Board

Any matters that concern the day to day management of the school (whether administrative or educational) should in the first instance be directed to the school management. If you do not believe the school management has adequately dealt with your issue you may then escalate this to the Board chair.

Contact details for the school office and all teachers are available on the Our Staff section on this website. If your concern is about a matter which you don't feel able to discuss directly with the teacher or is of a more general nature you can then contact the Associate Principal of your child’s syndicate:

Or at any time please feel free to contact the Principal (Richard Limbrick).
If the issue concerns the Principal you can contact the Board chair. You may also wish to raise questions regarding school policies, these can also be raised with the Board chair at bot@arahoe.school.nz.